A Salt Lake City road crew painted a crosswalk at the intersection of 400 South and 1040 West on Monday, hours after two children were struck and seriously injured there while walking to school.
According to Salt Lake City police, the two children were crossing 400 South at Goshen Street (1040 West) in an unmarked crosswalk when they were struck by a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee headed east. The collision is being investigated as a “possible impaired driver crash,” police said.
Shortly after the crash, Salt Lake City took “immediate steps” to paint a crosswalk at the intersection, according to a statement from a city spokesperson. The road had recently been repaved and the crosswalk stripes had not been repainted before the children were hit.
Family members of the children, who suffered serious injuries, have set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for their medical care.
The names and ages of the victims have not been released, but the GoFundMe page — set up by the victims’ aunt and uncle — refers to them as Ella and Jackson. The two were “on their way to school” when the driver “ran into them mid-crosswalk.”
“Ella had lifted her little brother up onto her shoulders for the walk to school,” and by doing so she “unknowingly saved her little brother’s life that morning,” the page states. “Ella took the main force of the impact, leaving her lifeless in the middle of the road. Jackson was launched through the vehicle’s windshield, landing in the front passenger seat.”
The page notes that Ella suffered fractures to her left knee and tibia, a torn ACL and MCL, a broken finger and “major bruising and road rash along her whole body including her head and face.”
Jackson suffered a broken clavicle, facial fractures and cuts from the vehicle’s windshield, including a large wound on his hand.
“It was a miracle that both children escaped this tragedy with their lives,” according to the children’s aunt and uncle.
As of Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe page had raised $345 of its $20,000 goal.
Follow @ScottDPierce